Victorian Slang & Other Flummadiddle

Text by Susan Krysiak, Director of Media Relations at MAC / Early Summer 2024

Whether it’s 1870 or 2024, the English language evolves. Words and phrases come into popular use and stay a while, living their lives in conversation on the streets, in houses and theaters, written in books and newspapers, shared on Instagram or TikTok. Others disappear along with their usefulness.

Some expressions are rooted in the Victorian mind and have mostly kept their meanings: “crackpot (an imposter),” “keep your eyes peeled (keep close watch),” “tickled to death (delighted),” to name a few. Other Victorian words and expressions are long forgotten.

Enjoy this small sampling of forgotten Victorian expressions from Merriam-Webster’s ‘Flummadiddle,’ ‘Slumgullion,’ and More Silly Words from the 19th Century, and from Passing English of the Victorian Era, A Dictionary of Heterodox English, Slang and Phrase, by J. Redding Ware, published in 1910.

Any bird may roost in my bonnet

Self-praise. A speaker whose reputation is so beyond reproach and so little given to slander that even the most “Aristophanis (best-looking) birds could carry no disparagement of hers between heaven and earth,” Ware says.

Don’t ’ee b’lieve it, Mrs. Mog — any bird
may a-roost i‘ my bonnet.

A little bird told me is closely related to the phrase, Ware adds. The origin is found in Ecclesiastes. “For a bird of the air shall carry thee voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.” The belief that birds carry messages between earth and heaven is common folklore in all countries and times.

Arctics

Winter clothing

I hate a hotel where you have to get up at 4:15 A.M., dress in a cold room, and walk down to the station because the ‘bus doesn’t go to that train,’ and about half-way down you discover that you left your arctics in the office.

Bodacious

Very good or impressive. Bodacious has been around far longer than one might assume, according to Merriam-Webster. The word was popular following the 1989 film Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. “Bodacious” and “bodaciously” in fact have been in use since the early 19th century. “The first sense we have for bodacious is ‘outright, unmistakable.’ The senses of bodacious that are in common use today (‘excellent’ and ‘attractive’) do not appear to have been used until the latter portion of the 20th century.”

Dog my cats

An exclamation that conceals swearing.

Dog my cats! This stupid AI program just rewrote my sentence.
Susan Krysiak, April 2024

Everything is nice in your garden

A gentle protest against self-laudation.

I don’t wish to praise myself, but I believe I’m the greatest living tenor, in this world and at all events!

Reply: Yes, yes, everything is nice in your garden.

Flummadiddle

Something foolish or worthless, like the frill or fringe on a dress. “Flummadiddle is the sort of word that rolls nicely off the tongue, and even if people with whom you use the word don’t quite know what it means the conversation will be the richer for its presence,” according to Merriam-Webster.

Gigglemug

A habitually smiling face. Mug is a Victorian theater term that means to show a variety of comical expressions. Cape May’s Carriage House Museum shop sells a bodacious mug (the medium-sized container for drinking hot beverages) called the Gigglemug. It’s not flummadiddle.

Give a lift

A sharp quick kick. Quite different than today’s meaning, to give someone a ride. Good to remember in case time travel is finally invented and you’re stranded on a country lane in 1880. “Excuse me, sir, would you be so kind as to give me a lift?”

Highfalutin

Pretentious, fancy. “Highfalutin has a fine purpose, which is that it serves to describe behavior that is pretentious without making the person using it sound pretentious,” according to Merriam-Webster.

Hornswoggle

To trick or deceive someone. The origins of hornswoggle are unknown, according to Merriam-Webster. “As is occasionally the case with such words it has been supposed that it was a fanciful creation … The earliest known written use of the word comes from an 1829 article … in which it is given the charming definition of ‘to embarrass irretrievably’.”